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11.23.2011

Big Daddy Ramen Bowl @ Hapa Ramen

Hapa Ramen has been making quite a stir around the Bay Area, but since its a truck it takes me more time to track it down! Plus, sometimes I find it more fun to happen to stumble upon food trucks when I'm walking around. Hapa Ramen happened to make an appearance at the SF Farmer's Market one day so even though the weather was warm I ordered a bowl of ramen. I can't say I had high hopes for this ramen going into it because I've found through my ramen slurpings in the Bay that ramen is better outside the city. That being said, the thought of a ramen truck did excited me because it brought back memories of Tokyo when people would stumble out of the bars at night and small carts would open up and sell ramen.

The Big Daddy Ramen included slow-cooked pork, fried chicken, vegetables, and slow cooked egg. I'm no stranger to ramen. I've eaten at almost all the ramen shops in the Bay Area and some in New York. Even knowing that Hapa Ramen was trying to "evolve" their ramen, I was not a fan. The broth is much too sweet. So sweet that you can smell the sweetness when you get your cup. The taste is like carmelized vegetables and not enough pork or salt flavor, which defines a proper ramen soup base. It was oily, but not in the pork fatty richness way. The fried chicken in the ramen reminded me of the ramen at Katana-Ya, but it was soggy and dry. The noodles were mushy and not al dente. A poor rendition of ramen. I just cannot understand the hype.